Road4us platform for all road users

A 2018 report from the World Health Organization (WHO) found that the number of road casualties continues to rise, reaching 1.35 million per year. Road crashes have become the main cause of death for children and young people aged 5 to 29. And more than half of road accident victims are vulnerable road users: pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, etc. The probability of dying in a road crash also remains three times higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries, mainly due to a lack of regulations and infrastructures, as well as vehicle standards or first aid efficiency. Faced with these staggering figures, the association PrÃ©vention RoutiÃ¨re and its partner, the Group Renault Corporate Foundation, have decided to act, by creating the first universal platform intended for all audiences. The Road4us platform aims to raise users' awareness of road hazards, as well as the proper behaviours to adopt to move safely. To accommodate all type of audiences, these prevention messages are spread in the form of simple and entertaining illustrations, designed for everyone. The overall objectives are to reduce road accidents and deaths worldwide, to make road prevention content available to as many people as possible, and to be universal and multilingual. As an initiative with a universal scope, the project targets all road users and aspires to be understood by people from all nationalities and culture, children and adults, illiterate, and literate. This project also offers free resources to print (in both colors and black & white) or to download online to all organizations involved in road safety around the world.

Project activities

If you work together with external partners, list the most important partners and briefly describe their role.

Alongside the aPR, its partner the Group Renault Corporate Foundation was involved in the funding and development of the initiative. Local branches of the Group Renault have also participated to the testing phase in Colombia and Morocco. The project also received support from the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (Canada), the association AURORE (France), and the NGO Alinagnon (Benin). They especially contributed to the trials and improvements of the illustrations by organizing sessions with young students and migrants. Evaluation forms and guidelines in French, Spanish and English have been created and sent to the local coordinators organizing these sessions. Thanks to these tools, they were able to share their experiences and help us enhancing Road4us.

Please describe the project activities you carried/are carrying out and the time period over which these were implemented.

The Road4us project in various steps: 1. Assessing the damage - From December 2018 to February 2019 - Following the WHO's alarming figures, we decided to create Road4us, the first platform accessible to everyone, children, and adults, throughout the world, to raise awareness about road dangers and on how to behave. 2. Identifying the main issues and messages - From January to February 2019 - We identified around the world the leading causes of accidents and high-risk behaviours on the road. Based on our research, we established priority prevention tips compiled in about fifteen themes. 3. Raising awareness with illustrations - From February 2019 to July 2019 - We illustrated these issues so everyone could understand them. They are simple and non-text illustrations with universal codes, accessible to all. 4. Testing for an optimal tool - From April 2019 to June 2019 - Before the website was created, the illustrations were tested on different audiences (children, adults, groups and individuals) with different nationalities and cultural backgrounds. Based on their feedbacks, we optimized the illustrations, so the messages were as comprehensible as possible. Through questionnaires, in English, French and Spanish, various criteria were assessed : the level of general understanding, the preventive message that the picture underlies, the relevance of the picture regarding the road safety situation in the country where the evaluation occurred. 5. Construction of the online platform - September 2019 to January 2020 - Following the test and improvement of the illustrations, the Road4us platform was created. The textual content of the website was drafted and translated in eight languages. When all the elements had been gathered, an external provider designed the website. 6. Launching of the Road4us website in February 2020: a tool for road users and organisation involved in road safety. After months of testing, Road4us was launched in January 2020. It is now accessible, totally free, in 8 languages. After reviewing the illustrations, they can be downloaded, printed if needed in colours or black and white, to raise awareness among the target audience and therefore, encourage good behaviours. 7. Communication and dissemination of the Road4Us platform - February 2020 - The Road4us platform was first shared with partner NGO's and individuals who contributed to its creation, as well as our main corporate sponsor. To communicate on this project on a larger scale, the association published a teaser video explaining the project and calling for ambassadors. This video was shared through social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn), but also through newsletters, both from our NGO and the Renault Foundation. The association also published articles on its website, as well as a press release (attached in the supporting links). In February 2020, the association PrÃ©vention RoutiÃ¨re attended the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, as the only French NGO. We took this opportunity to present Road4us during network moments and at the PRI Conference (PrÃ©vention RoutiÃ¨re Internationale), where Zoleka Mandela was invited to speak. 8. Relaunch of Road4us in 2021. In 2020, the dissemination of the Road4us platform was put to a halt due to the COVID 19 pandemic, and the closure of schools worldwide. In 2021, the association hopes to restart the dissemination and communication of Road4us and to follow an effective media strategy. Therefore, the creation of a new user guide (in 8 languages) is underway. This new support would be intended to different publics, and especially to a new network of Road4us ambassadors within schools, companies, local authorities and civil society actors.

List the actions you carried/are carrying out

Date

Wednesday, 25 May, 2022

Evaluation

What has been the effect of the activities?

Effect of the Road4us tool : Road4us provides a new tool to address priority issues of road safety, easy to access and to use. It especially enables professional, volunteers and individuals to train themselves and to sensitize both children and adults on road hazards. During the testing phase, our local partners testified on behalf of children who had been sensitized, saying how this tool was needed and welcomed in the school curriculum. Some of our African peers have contacted us to know more about the project and how they could implement it locally. The Ministry of Education of Senegal was even interested in sponsoring a local NGO to disseminate Road4us illustrated posters in the schools nationwide. - How the impact was measured and evaluated : Google Analytics helped us measure the audience and we intend to add a new tracking tool, as soon as we will relaunch the project. We also evaluated the quality and comprehension of each illustration through a rating system and user comments (sent via a contact form on the website), as well as feedbacks from our partners NGOs on the illustrations and their applications. - In what way is the tool effective / efficient: The measure was effective as users' comments showed the tool was attractive, comprehensible, and used as it was intended. Mostly, it was used by volunteers and teachers for awareness raising / outreach actions, but also by parents and grandparents wishing to address road safety issues within their families. Nevertheless, the nature of this project lies in its self-sufficiency: when someone downloads the illustrations, he or she does not have any obligations to report the reasons and/or the results of its use. This explains our difficulties to obtain an accurate number of effective implementations in real life. - How does it complement other measures : It complements other measures as it brings forth a new resource that can be used by anyone involved in road safety, to learn or teach about the different topics in an easy way. For instance, volunteers can use the platform to train themselves and be more efficient in their awareness raising actions. It can also provide new materials for teachers and educational teams to use when addressing road safety issues with their students. Overall, it reinforces the skills and knowledge of field actors and enable a better understanding of the messages through visual supports. "

Please briefly explain why your initiative is a good example of improving road safety.

Road4us is the first platform worldwide to raise awareness among all road users of all nationalities and cultures, children and adults, illiterate or not, on road safety hazards and on the proper behaviours to adopt. This is done through illustrations, without text, to be universally understood. Indeed, we wanted to provide a simple access to communities who did not have the chance to receive an education in terms of road safety. This project is accessible worldwide to all actors engaged in road safety through a single website, and is available in 8 languages: French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi and Russian. All resources can be downloaded, printed, and used freely.

How have you shared information about your project and its results?

Yes, visit links

Supporting materials

Attachments

10-245-q24-cp_road4us_vdef_en_compressed.pdf

Road4us platform for all road users